1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a sewing machine with a function of printing information regarding stitches onto a label.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic-controlled sewing machines have been developed for practical use, in which stitch data regarding a plurality of stitch designs (stitching designs), normally including character designs, object designs and the like, is stored, in correspondence to a number assigned to each stitch design, into a non-volatile memory, such as an internal ROM or an external ROM and the like, provided in a control device. Thus, it is possible to form a stitch design selected by operating a design select key. While such a selected design is produced permanently in a cloth in the form of stitches, the selected design is temporarily displayed in a display of the sewing machine and erased from the display after the stitching operation. The designs formed as described above include, for example, object designs stitch-embroidered as one-point marks, character designs composed of character sequences representing person's names, brand names and the like, and practical-use designs, such as straight patterns, zigzag patterns and the like.
Although such conventional sewing machines are equipped with an indicating device, such as a display, they are not equipped with a printing device that prints and outputs stitching designs or character sequences or the like in relation to stitching designs. Therefore, the conventional sewing machines are unable to print and output stitching designs or character sequences or the like in relation to stitching designs by exploiting the large amounts of information stored or input for producing the stitching designs.
More specifically, if a stitching design is input, a conventional sewing machine merely produces the stitching design in a cloth, leaving a recording operation for an operating person to perform. To record which stitching designs have been completed, the operator needs to take the time to write the designs or character sequences on slips of paper or other recording media to indicate the contents of stitching. Moreover, in a case where a stitched cloth (product) is packed in an opaque paper sheet or bag, so that the product inside cannot be seen from outside, it often becomes necessary to hand-write on a surface of the package the design or character sequence that indicates the content of stitching design of the product inside the package. Further, in many households, a sewing machine is often used to embroider a child's belongings, such as clothes or handkerchiefs, with the child's name or initials. However, for non-clothing articles that cannot be stitched, the child's name or initials must be written by hand.